THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST AND BEEKEEPER

a week later young queens commence to
hatch, and a large amount of brood
having hattehed since the old queen
swarmed, another swarm comes off with
a young or virgin queen-that is a
queen that has not been fertilized or
mated and this is called an "after-
:swarm." The following day another
swarm may appear, and for two or three
,days following swarms may come off
until the strength of the old colony has
been greatly reduced.
It is no disgrace for this queen to have
swarmed. She is like the enterprising
and successful manufacturer who is
forced to leave one town and move to
another, so that he may have sufficient
room to carry on his business. Careful
-and judicious handling would likely
have kept both where they were, had the
beekeeper given more room at the proper
time. If honey were coming in, give
plenty of drawn combs for storing, and
if this does not appear to satisfy them,
remove some brood from the brood nest,
replacing them with frames of foundation
or drawn combs, preferably the latter.
It would seem that the tendency to
,swarm occurs just a little before,' or at
the commencement of the honeyflow.
If the queen can be kept satisfied until
honey is coming in freely the danger of
swarming daily becomes    less.  My
theory is that during the week or ten
days immediately preceding the honey-
flow, with very little or nothing to
gather, the colony rapidly becomes
stronger and overcrowded. But a few
days later, with the honey-flow in full
'swing, the strain on the bees of the
-colony is very great. The situation has
changed, and combined with the fact
that the queen shows a disposition to
-slow up on egg laying, possibly in order
that as many bees as possible may be
released for honey gathering, causes the
-strength of the colony to be diminished
.and the danger of swarming is past,
providing enough room is given to store
the honey.
To sum up : Give the queen ALL the
combs she can fill with brood, up to the
commencement of the honey-flow, taking
care not to add supers too fast. Then
when honey is about to start to come in,
confine her to one brood chamber (ten
or twelve Langstroth frames) raising up
a part of the brood from the bottom
brood chamber, and replacing with
empty combs, at the same time giving
plenty of room for storing the honey.
In lotking over the price lists of a
number of Southern Queen breeders, I
have noticed that the prices of queens
are considerably higher this year.
At the Convention there seemed to be
a growing antipathy to Southern queens,
apparently on the ground that they did
not winter well here. Coupling these
two facts it would seem that Ontario
breeders will have their hands full this
season, and possibly more orders than
,they can take care of.

Removing Bees From the Cellar
By Win. A. Weir, Toronto

T HE operation of removing colonies
from the cellar is one requiring
considerable judgment on the part
of the 'beekeeper, for at this time of the
year colony conditions are at a low
ebb. Cellar conditions, weather con-
ditions and the general state of the
colonies must all be taken into consid-
eration in forming decisions. Colonies
which are housed in a cellar which does
riot permit of uniform temperature be-
tween 40 degs to 45 degs. Fahr. and is
not dark or easily ventilated will need
to be moved out earlier than when they
are in a proper cellar.   Unless all of
the cellar conditions are well regulated
the colony will 'become restless, con-
suming more stores and rearing an ex-
ces's of brood in cellar quarters.
As a general rule Ontario beekeep-
ers remove their colonies from cellar
quarters about the time willows begin
to yield pollen. This is usually between
the 5th and the 15th of April. In the
actual removing and placing of the
colonies on their summer stands there
are two particular considerations to
bear in mind, viz., the prevention of
robbing and the prevention of chilled
brood. It always pays to provide some
light packing for colonies which are
just set out of the cellar.  The tem-
perature of April nights is often quite
low, and unless something is, done to
counteract the lowering temperature,
the clustering bees will draw    some-
what closer together in their cluster
and leave a portion of valuable brood
exposed. Even a wrapping of tar
paper placed around the single walled
hive is better than none at all, and it is
an easy matter to arrange a four-inch
tray of chaff or other good packing
over the top of the brood nest by tak-
ing a half depth super and tacking a

piece of burlap to the lower edges
forming a tray with a canvas bottom.
In choosing a day on which to set
out the colonies a dull or slightly rainy
day will give the best results. It will
be all the -better if a light rain follows
the putting out of the colonies. When
carrying the colonies out, carry them
so as to prevent the frames swinging
from side to side in the hive body, and
note all colonies which are light when
placing them on the hive stands. Al-
ways contract the entrance consider-
ably. An entrance 1/2-inch x 7/-inch
is big enough for any colony at this
time. -Carrying the colonies out on a
bright sunny day is to be avoided, as
the strong light will attract the bees
out for flight and "drifting" is caused;
the bees not taking the precaution to
carefully mark their new location
readily drift to nearby stands, from
which a goodly number of bees have
play-flights.  The weak colonies are
thus inade weaker and the strong col-
onies made excessively strong. Always
move all of the colonies out of the
cellar into the yard at the same time or
day. Moving part of the colonies out
to their summer stands and then a
lapse of two or three days before the
balance of the colonies are moved out
to complete is a strong predisposing
cause of robbing; the established col-
onies (those moved out first) are likely
to attack the newcomers.
Many of the best authorities in apiary
culture recommend an eight-foot board
fence as the best protection from cold
vinds but should there happen to be
good natural protection, such as ever-
-re-ens, in the vicinty, this may be taken
advantage of, and prove quite as efficient
as a board fence.-Morley Pettit.

The backyard apiary of Mr. Sidney Pickett, of Owen Sound, Ont. Starting 4 years ago with
one swarm Mr.. Pickett now has 15 colonies and extracted 700 lbs. of honey from 9 colonies
last season, which he rightly considers very good for that locality.

)

March, 1919.